THE ISRAEL OF TODAY IS DIFFERENT. Pundits seem to still be enamored by an image of Israel that no longer reflects reality.

Jules Crittenden writes:

Israel has promised to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. But what Hamas did was turn Gaza into a free-fire zone for the Israeli Army. There is no reason whatsoever for Israeli restraint in crossing the border to excise the cancer, and no one who can credibly raise an outcry against Israel when it does.

Oh, for the good old days when it could be assumed that Israel would take action when threatened--and what could be more threatening than Hamas, alone, in control of Gaza.

Back in August 2005, Charles Krauthammer also saw Gaza as a free-fire zone for Israel in the event the Kassams would continue unabated:

What to do? Something Israel should have done long ago: active and relentless deterrence. Israel should announce that henceforth any rocket launched from Palestinian territory will immediately trigger a mechanically automatic response in which five Israeli rockets will be fired back. There will be no human intervention in the loop. Every Palestinian rocket landing in Israel will instantly trigger sensors and preset counter-launchers. Any Palestinian terrorist firing up a rocket will know that he is triggering six: one Palestinian and five Israeli.

That is the kind of action that we would expect from the Israel of 1967 or Entebbe--the kind of action that we never saw. But compare that advice with the kind of advice that Krauthammer suggests now:

Israel now has the opportunity to establish deterrence against unremitting rocket attacks from Gaza into Israeli villages. Israel failed to do that after it evacuated Gaza in 2005, permitting the development of an unprecedented parasitism by willingly supplying food, water, electricity and gasoline to a territory that was actively waging hostilities against it.

With Hamas now clearly in charge, Israel should declare that it will tolerate no more rocket fire — that the next Kassam will be answered with a cutoff of gasoline shipments. This should bring road traffic in Gaza to a halt within days and make it increasingly difficult to ferry around missiles and launchers.

If that fails to concentrate the mind, the next step should be to cut off electricity. When the world wails, Israel should ask: What other country on Earth is expected to supply the very means for a declared enemy to attack it?

The advice is not nearly as dynamic--it is not the sort of response that we would have expected from the Israel of old.

So maybe Israel will give it a try.

Just keep in mind what Krauthammer wrote: "What other country on Earth is expected to supply the very means for a declared enemy to attack it?"

The answer is: Israel and Israel alone will be expected to provide aid, make concessions, and put her existence at risk in exchange for promises from terrorists and assurances from countries that already are conceding to their Islamists at home and the groups that represent them.

Krauthammer is right, the world will wail--and condemn and threaten. The key ingredient that Israel needs is the will to do what it needs to in order to defend itself--that is the key whether we are talking about the Israel of the past or the one today that is looking to guarantee its future.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Charles Krauthammer and Jules Crittenden.